THE Chief Constable of North Yorkshire Police has assured residents issues such as wildlife crime are taken “very seriously”, and denied speed cameras were used to generate income for the force.

In a live webchat on Monday, Chief Constable Dave Jones spent an hour responding to questions from people on a variety of topics, including the allegations the York and Ainsty South Hunt broke the law during a ride at Escrick Park, near Selby, on December 28.

One webchat participant asked: “Do you take wildlife crime seriously enough? You used to have the manpower to police hunt sabs. When are you going to find the manpower to police the hunts?”

Mr Jones said Operation Hawk was set up in July to target rural and cross-border crime and had made more than 50 arrests. Mr Jones said the force took rural and wildlife crime “very seriously”, and said investigations were ongoing into the Escrick Park hunt.

Questions were also raised about mobile speed camera vans which are posted on roads around the county.

One participant asked how many of the serious accidents where the vans were located could be attributable to excessive speeds and was it that the cameras were “just a nice money maker?”.

Mr Jones said fines from the cameras went to the Treasury, while speed awareness courses provided a £35 levy to North Yorkshire Police, which went towards the running of the safety cameras and future road safety projects.

He said: “The vans are deployed to routes identified through intelligence and collision data as well as those highlighted by local communities who are blighted by speeding motorists. These routes are regularly reviewed and updated with the latest information.

“This is certainly not about income generation – it’s about your safety and mine. We still, however, are trying to address what is a too high cost of inappropriate speeding and the injuries that result.”

Mr Jones was also praised for the work of North Yorkshire Police, with one person stating the county was “lucky to have them”, and he was asked how he coped with negative comments or attitudes towards the police.

He said: “It’s always good to receive positive comments, and as you might expect, I agree with them. Police officers are resilient and appreciate what goes in the media isn’t always a true reflection of the good work, skills and compassion they show on a daily basis. Contrast what’s written about them with the feedback they get from the public.”

Comments (6)

“This is certainly not about income generation – it’s about your safety and mine. We still, however, are trying to address what is a too high cost of inappropriate speeding and the injuries that result.”

This doesn't match up with what I was told from a servicing policeman who said there are only 1 or 2 speed camera vans in North Yorkshire with police staff and the rest are privately run and only interested in making money!

[quote]“This is certainly not about income generation – it’s about your safety and mine. We still, however, are trying to address what is a too high cost of inappropriate speeding and the injuries that result.” [/quote]
This doesn't match up with what I was told from a servicing policeman who said there are only 1 or 2 speed camera vans in North Yorkshire with police staff and the rest are privately run and only interested in making money!BL2

Of course the police say it's not about money, they can't say anything else. The reality is, traffic safety is a science, it's practiced by traffic engineers, and traffic engineers have NEVER recommended automated ticketing machines as the best way to make a road safer.

Of course the police say it's not about money, they can't say anything else. The reality is, traffic safety is a science, it's practiced by traffic engineers, and traffic engineers have NEVER recommended automated ticketing machines as the best way to make a road safer.photoradarscam

The irony of it being called operation Hawk when North Yorkshire has the highest instance of Raptor poisoning in the country with little chance of anything really being done about it.
If you are a wealthy landowner you can do what you like to protect your "country sports"

The irony of it being called operation Hawk when North Yorkshire has the highest instance of Raptor poisoning in the country with little chance of anything really being done about it.
If you are a wealthy landowner you can do what you like to protect your "country sports"roadwars

roadwars wrote:
The irony of it being called operation Hawk when North Yorkshire has the highest instance of Raptor poisoning in the country with little chance of anything really being done about it.
If you are a wealthy landowner you can do what you like to protect your &quot;country sports"

So true, the only way to guarantee a police presence at a foxhunt is for a van load of sabs to turn up. Suddenly the police have the manpower to spend all day keeping an eye on the sabs whilst the hunt continue on their merry way!

[quote][p][bold]roadwars[/bold] wrote:
The irony of it being called operation Hawk when North Yorkshire has the highest instance of Raptor poisoning in the country with little chance of anything really being done about it.
If you are a wealthy landowner you can do what you like to protect your "country sports"[/p][/quote]So true, the only way to guarantee a police presence at a foxhunt is for a van load of sabs to turn up. Suddenly the police have the manpower to spend all day keeping an eye on the sabs whilst the hunt continue on their merry way!twotonethomas

“This is certainly not about income generation – it’s about your safety and mine. We still, however, are trying to address what is a too high cost of inappropriate speeding and the injuries that result.”

This doesn't match up with what I was told from a servicing policeman who said there are only 1 or 2 speed camera vans in North Yorkshire with police staff and the rest are privately run and only interested in making money!

Then the serving policeman was wrong.

[quote][p][bold]BL2[/bold] wrote:
[quote]“This is certainly not about income generation – it’s about your safety and mine. We still, however, are trying to address what is a too high cost of inappropriate speeding and the injuries that result.” [/quote] This doesn't match up with what I was told from a servicing policeman who said there are only 1 or 2 speed camera vans in North Yorkshire with police staff and the rest are privately run and only interested in making money![/p][/quote]Then the serving policeman was wrong.EC1940